Obey Propaganda

Shepard Fairey

Some times it's the small things that matter.

They say the Devil is in the details, but maybe that's wrong and what's actually in the details is someone's real character.

Maybe what you do when you don't have to do anything, speaks more to who you are than any flowery words can.

Clark saw that Diana was embarrassed. While they certainly didn't see eye-to-eye and tended to butt heads every time they ran into each other, he understood she just made an innocent mistake. It should have been a momentary lapse that was already over and soon to be forgotten, but he heard a few of the others sitting in the sidewalk café take pictures.

What was private would soon become public and once someone recognized her it would blow up and become news. Increasingly it seems no one can make a mistake, no matter how innocent it is without everyone finding out about it. Given his own situation, Clark believed everyone should be allowed to make a mistake without the whole world knowing about it, even a Princess.

One of his underused abilities was his speed. He could probably move as fast as almost anyone alive. Putting on a quick burst he moved around the café and deleted the photos from all the cell phone cameras. He moved faster than just about anyone could see and was sitting back in his chair before most realized he'd even moved. Diana was one of the few people that could follow him and as he sat back down across from her she wondered what he was doing.

"What the hell? The picture down her dress is gone!" One of the other patrons complained. "Cheap ass phone!"

"Hey! Mine's gone too!" Another said. "I was just about to post it to my Instagram! What the fuck?"

"This is weird, my picture is deleted too,' A third said. "I don't think it's the phones, something odd's going on."

Clark smiled and stood up. He turned towards them.

"Guys, show some class,' he said to them. "She made an innocent mistake, let it go. You don't want to be like those upskirt picture trolls do you?"

The three glanced at him and then at Diana. Her embarrassment had become theirs. Clark turned back to Diana.

"Thanks again for helping me, Princess."

He gave her a smile and dropped some money on the table to pay the bill before heading off. Diana watched him go and this time she found she liked his smile very much.

Low River Country

Things were a bit tense between Kori and Shayera since Clark left. They had spoken very little to each other, yet both were keeping an eye on the other. Kori curled up on the couch with a book and Krypto moved over to next to her. She reached down and stroked his fur as she read.

Shayera was having second thoughts about all of it. Things weren't quite as straightforward as she'd been led to believe, but she'd made an agreement so she was going to hold up her end of the bargain. She hadn't expected to find a Tamaran here of all places, but perhaps that could work to her advantage. While Thanagarians and Tamarans usually didn't have many dealings they knew of each other. They were radically different cultures and as usually happens in that case both sides had perceived notions about what the other was like.

For the Tamarans, they found the Thanagarians rather rigid, conservative and overly militaristic. Alternatively the Thanagarians found the Tamarans rather hedonistic and like many considered them less of a threat because the way they processed memories and emotions seemed completely different than most. In other words both sides had cultural biases towards the other.

Shayera took her time and looked around the cabin but there wasn't really that much to see. Nothing told her really anything about who Clark was. Eventually she dropped down into one of the chairs opposite Kori and turned on the television. She spent almost a half hour flicking through the channels before shutting it off again. Kori looked up from her book and smiled.

"You're acting like a caged bird, Shayera,' she said. "Problem?"

"I feel like one stuck out here." Shayera replied.

"There's the door," Kori said. "No one's stopping you from leaving."

"Really?" Shayera said turning her attention to Kori.

"Yes."

"So Clark didn't ask you to stick around and watch me while he's gone?" Shayera pointedly asked.

"Yeah, he did,' Kori admitted. She set her book down and gave Shayera her full attention.

"So you two don't trust me,' Shayera stated.

"Should we?" Kori countered. "You're an ex-cop or ex-military what would you do in a similar situation?"

"I wouldn't invite someone back to my place if I didn't fully trust them for one,' Shayera replied. "I picked Clark because I thought I'd be safe but now I'm feeling like a prisoner again, just a nicer cage."

Kori shook her head at this.

"No, you don't get to play the victim here,' she said. "Clark saved you from an actual cage where you were a real prisoner. He didn't know you or anything about you but he rescued you because it was the right thing to do. This is his house. Is he just supposed to leave a stranger alone in it while he's gone? Would you?"

"So you're my keeper?"

"Again, no,' Kori said. "Look if you want to leave, I'll transport you to my ship and you can go anywhere in the world from there and no one will stop you. We can go right now if you want."

"Why can't I just leave from here?" Shayera asked.

"Because we'd like to keep this place private,' Kori stated.

"So it's we now?" Shayera replied with a smile and then tried baiting her. "Protecting your man, Koriand'r? Are you afraid to leave him alone with me?"

"Do you want to sleep with Clark?" Kori asked. "If you do and he's willing, I guess I would be okay with that."

"Wh-What? NO! I just met that guy!" Shayera gasped in shock.

"Then what was the point of bringing it up?" Kori asked.

Shayera fumbled to find the right words, as things hadn't gone as she expected. Finally the only thing she could think to say was, "Tamarans! Why do I bother?"

"I would guess it was one of two reasons, you actually really do want to sleep with Clark or you were trying to bait me,' Kori offered. "Since you're Thanagarian, I'm going to guess it was the later."

"Is that right?" Shayera fired back. "What do you know about Thanagarians?"

"Not much, I admit,' Kori replied. "From what I've heard though, they seem rather unpleasant."

"We can't all be as 'free spirited" as you Tamarans,' Shayera said sarcastically. "Some of us aren't as forgetful about people and events of our past as your people."

"We remember,' Kori calmly said. "We just choice not to constantly dwell on the past like Thanagarians or most species. You would seem a perfect example of that, Shayera."

"Meaning?"

"Your wings," Kori offered. "You lost your real wings which must have been traumatic but you have a new pair, a very sophisticated pair at that. If I had to guess that means military, but you're here so something happened. Something that troubled you so much you felt compelled to leave everything you know and come to a place that was a complete unknown."

Shayera didn't say anything for a moment, shocked and surprised by Kori's analysis of her. The fact that she got it almost completely right was unbelievable to her.

"How could you possibility know that?" Shayera finally asked.

"Cause that's why I'm here too."

San Francisco

The idea that there was some super secret prison for aliens had troubled Bruce since he first heard about it. He wasn't so naïve to believe some aliens weren't threats, but he also knew that didn't mean all of them were. It came down to who got to decide for him. The idea that the government could imprison anyone, alien or not, without a trial or the due process of law went against everything he believed in. A nation is only as strong as its laws and the threat of possible danger doesn't allow you to supersede those laws. It's so easy in the face of perceived threats to compromise on those principals.

Many considered Batman a vigilante and Bruce recognized he straddled the line at times. He was aware of where the line was though, so he never cast himself in the role of judge, jury and jailer. As flawed as the system might be, it was far better than the alternative so he did his best to work within it.

His scheme with Shayera might seem contrary to that for most people but it fell within the excepted practices of a detective. Having an inside man or in this case, an inside woman was a time honored tradition in intelligence gathering. One of the chief differences was he hadn't forced Shayera to participate. There was no quid pro quo of her doing this in return for his help with her problems. He'd had already taken steps to guarantee her safety regardless of whether she worked for him or not.

It was her decision and that made all the difference in the world. Bruce truly believed Kent wouldn't harm her as it went against everything he'd gathered about him. The real risk to her safety was from Waller and Lynch. Since they were already after Shayera she knew the risks as well as Bruce did. He hated putting someone else in danger and it ate him up the whole time until he found out she'd been rescued by Kent. Diana being a part of the rescue wasn't part of the plan, but it had actually worked out well.

For someone she supposedly didn't like the young Princess certainly seemed to have a lot of contact with Mr. Kent.

That Shayera hadn't contacted Bruce yet was a bit concerning, but she was a pro and knew what she as doing. The idea was to locate Kent and find out as much about him as she could, then get out of there. In some ways his location wasn't as important is finding out Kent's intentions. Someone with those sorts of abilities was a wild card. If as Diana stated he just wanted to be left alone and live a quiet life, Bruce would honor that. If not he needed to find a way to counteract him. Either way finding out his location would be a step in the right direction.

Those plans would have to wait, as tonight Bruce wanted to see just what Amanda Waller was hiding under Detroit. Most would think he'd be in Detroit rather than San Francisco to find out. That made the most sense at first blush, but the longer he thought about it the more Bruce realized how dangerous that might be. Even Victor hadn't been able to penetrate the sub-building so he would be going in blind. The defenses, weapons, security, soldiers, all of it would be and unknown if he made an attempted to get inside.

There was another way, a far safer way of finding out. Take the most super secret building in the world and it doesn't just rise from nothing. Someone had to make plans, architectural drawings, in other words someone had to build it. To someone that knows what they're looking at the plans can tell them everything they need to know about a building, no matter how secret its supposed to be.

That brought him to URS Corporation, formerly United Research Services. It was an engineering, design, and construction firm and a U.S. federal government contractor. URS was a full-service, global organization with offices located in the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia-Pacific. Their security, while tight, wasn't as difficult to bypass as a secret government facility.

It was after hours when he slipped inside the building and made his way to one of the top executives computer terminal. It was password protected, but Bruce had targeted one of the older executives. Older people tend to use rather obvious passwords they can remember. A few tries and Bruce was in. The man had used his dog's name combined with the date of his wedding anniversary. His wife must have been so touched, Bruce absently thought, as he made his way deeper into the files. He finally found what he was looking for under the name Circus.

Compressing the file into a PDF, Bruce used the company's server to e-mail it to one of several addresses he had that would bounced them around the world before sending them to the Batcave. It would be untraceable, even if they realized the file had been copied. He was gone without a trace when the janitor came by to empty the wastebaskets.

Washington

After leaving Diana, Clark walked around the capital instead of going straight home. He had to admit he kind of liked the Princess. She always looked so composed and under control when he saw her on television, it was nice to know there was a fiery side underneath it. Apparently he brought out that side of her in spades. They were silly tricks he'd pulled on her, but that's sort of what made them funny. She of course disagreed. She hadn't chased after him this time so maybe they were making progress.

It didn't really matter now. Even if he managed to convince Shayera not to disclose his home and Diana took care of the Batman side of things, they wouldn't be the last to come looking for him. Lynch and Waller, along with all the others wouldn't care if a few innocent people got in the way. Each of them had a justification for their actions. It was involved patriotism, security, protecting the country and a litany of noble sounding words that masked what they were doing was wrong.

It was easy to be cynical. Just watching the news you saw people getting their heads cut off, innocents being forced into slavery, the supposed 'good guys' torturing with the approval of the governments highest officials. They were doing it to protect lives and freedom they said, yet didn't seem to understand that when you stop upholding the values and ideals you're supposed to be fighting for, you lose anyway. A surveillance state, by design, breeds conformity and passivity - which in turn is why all power centers crave it.

Clark had made the decision to leave with Kori and Krypto. Earth was his home but perhaps leaving would help he gain some perspective. The Kents had always tried to teach him that cynicism leads to apathy. When people stop trying for something better and just accept the corruption and injustice then they are already lost. Maybe some time away would help him regain that optimism that things could get better.

It would take a couple of days to get everything ready. There were a lot of things he needed to do before he left. As he stopped in front of the Lincoln Memorial Clark looked up at the looming figure, he thought of something Jonathan Kent had told him. Whenever they were forced to move on, Jonathan and Martha would make sure to clean up before they did. Clark had asked him why? Jonathan had said, "Always try to leave a place better than you found it." Perhaps he could do that in some small way before he left with Kori.

The Watchtower

Victor picked up the signal from Adam Strange and transported him directly to the infirmary. After a quick diagnostic scan they were able to repair the damage done to his body. Hal wasn't on the station as he had some Lantern duties to perform so they sent out a message to him. Mera and Dinah had some basic medical training so they stayed to keep an eye on Adam, while Victor monitored all the medical equipment. It was almost ten hours before he came to.

"Where?" He rasped, his throat dry.

"Take it easy, you're in the Justice League Watchtower,' Mera said.

"Hal Jordan, need to talk to Hal Jordan."

"I'm afraid Hal's not here right now,' Dinah said. "We've sent him a message so we're just waiting to here from him."

"Need him to contact the Guardians,' Adam said, trying to sit up.

"Easy, you're in no shape to get up yet."

"Rann facility being attacked,' Adam gasped as he slumped back to the bed. "Zeta Beam could fall into their hands."

"Who?" Mera asked. "Who's hands might it fall into?"

"Cathar."

Mera looked at Dinah in confusion. Neither had ever heard of the race before.

"Who?"

"Cathar,' Adam repeated. "Fanatical extremists. Killed everyone. Must be stopped."

Dinah and Mera looked at each other again. The concern was apparent on both their faces.

"Rest Adam, we'll try and get in touch with Hal again,' Dinah softly said.

Washington

Clark rose up off the ground effortlessly and then slowly let his hearing extend out. First a block and then two and then further and further until he could hear the entire city. He rarely tried this, as it was almost too much information to process at once. All those voices, all those sounds and noises, coming from every direction. A cacophony of emotions washed over him from joy to unbearable sadness and everything in between. For those brief moments he was one with the entire city and just before it overwhelmed him he found what he was looking for, one heartbeat among the din.

Drifting back down to the ground he clamped down on his senses tuning out all of it like the tide rolling away from the shore.

Dan's Café

Someone put a quarter in the jukebox and pressed B17.

Pump It Up by Elvis Costello and the Attractions came on.

Dan's was located in the Adam Morgan neighborhood in northwest part of the city. The bar smells, the floor's sticky, and it was very likely that two drinks have already been spilled on the unleveled pool table. It's a dive bar and its claim to fame is something called "The Setup" which consisted of a carafe of liquor, a can of soda, and a bucket of ice, all for just $14.

Down in the pleasure centre,
hell bent or heaven sent,
listen to the propaganda,
listen to the latest slander.
There's nothing underhand
that she wouldn't understand.

Pump it up until you can feel it.
Pump it up when you don't really need it.

As she poured herself another drink, Zealot nodded her head along to the staccato beat. She wasn't here on an assignment or even to be social, she just wanted to get away from everyone and everything. She had been many things in her life; most recently a mercenary but lately the tasks assigned her left a bad taste in her mouth. The drinks helped but they didn't entirely wash it away.

"Excuse me, I was hoping …"

"Not interested." She said, not even turning to look at who was speaking to her.

"…talk."

"Again, not interested."

"But you haven't even heard what I have to say,' the voice persisted.

Finally she sighed and turned to see a rather good-looking young man sitting on the stool next to her.

"Look, I don't want to be rude, I just want to be left alone,' she said. "I'm sure whatever opening line you've worked up is wonderful. I'm just not in the mood. Okay?"

"Okay,' he replied. "This isn't a pick up, Lady Zannah."

That got her attention. There was a slight tension in her muscles as she was ready for a fight.

"How could you possibly know that name?" She asked.

"I read your file."

"So you work for Lynch,' she said, the name sour in her mouth. "I told him I'd be in touch when I was ready, not before."

"I don't work for Lynch,' He replied. "Quite the opposite actually."

"It doesn't matter who you work for I'm not interested, Mr. …"

"Kent."

Zealot spun around on her seat and looked at him full on.

"What did you say your name was?" She asked.

"Kent,' Clark replied. "We've met before."

Zealot was surprised, but she was ready for an attack. She waited to see if he'd make the first move.

"What are you doing here?" She asked. "Payback for the girl?"

"No,' Clark replied, shaking his head. "Like I said, I wanted to talk."

"About what?" She asked suspiciously.

"You."

"What about me?"

"You're not like the others, Lady Zannah."

"How can you be sure?"

"Again, I read your file,' Clark offered. "I also know how Lynch is blackmailing you."

"Oh really?" She scoffed.

"Yes, really, I know about the micro-detonator he had implanted in you spine just above the atlas (C1)."

Again he'd surprised her.

"That-That wasn't in my file."

"No, but I can see it,' he replied.

"How?"

"I just can,' he offered. "I came here to talk to you about it. I can remove it."

"And blow my head off, no thank you." Zealot replied with scorn.

"Hold still,' he said. Before she could reply she felt something pinch at the back of her head and then saw he was holding the detonator in his fingers. She reached back instinctively and felt a freshly cauterized narrow slit along her neck.

"You could have killed me!" She gasped.

"No, I stopped at the library before I came,' Clark replied. "I read everything I could about it so I'd know exactly what to do."

"You read it in the library and then just did it? On me?" she gasped. "Are you crazy?"

"Maybe,' he admitted with a smile. "I was pretty confident I could do it and it worked."

"That's a big risk to take with my life, Kent,' She grumbled.

"It wasn't your life, it was Lynch's,' Clark replied. He set the detonator down next to her on the bar. "Now it's your life again."

She immediately got his implication.

"Um, well, thank you,' she said and then added, 'why?"

"Cause I don't think you're like the others, Zealot,' Clark explained. "As I said I've read your file. You're a warrior with a code of conduct you live by. Lynch didn't have to blackmail the others like he did you. Now you get to decide how you're going to live."

"How do you know I wont try and take you in anyway?" She asked.

"I don't,' he admitted. "At least if you do I'll know it was your choice and nobody else's. "

He got up and headed for the front door. Zealot watched him go but didn't follow him. Her fingers slowly went up to the closed incision he'd made as her eyes looked at the detonator on the bar in front of her.

"Wait."

Clark turned to see Zealot walking towards him. She had a napkin in her hand.

"Lynch found out where General Lane is keeping the ship you arrived in,' she said. "These are the coordinates. What you do with them is your decision, Mr. Kent."

"Thank you."